Under The Surface
by TalkingMustache
Summary: Max thinks her life is at rock-bottom, since her mother scheduled an unexpected move to Arizona. She has to goto a new school, make new friends and work even harder in school. She thinks her life is over, until she meets a certain closely knit group of five. They become her friends, and everything seems better with them. But we all know there's always something under the surface.


CHAPTER ONE

"Max honey, wake up. I know you wouldn't want to be late on your first day at your new school."

Actually, I did want to be late on my first day at my new school. As a matter of fact, I didn't even want to show up at my new school. You see, my mother - a vet from Arizona named Valencia Martinez - got a really great job offer in California so, me (Max) and my little sister Ella were viciously torn from our old school, friends, and life to this foreboding new town where we knew absolutely no one and forced to start a new school right in the middle of the school year.

But don't let me bore you with my theatrics.

I begrudgingly got up, went into the bathroom, did all the other usual things and came downstairs in fifteen minutes.

I know mucho impressive.

When I reached the dining room, I saw enough food to feed a lion, which was precisely as much as I ate on depressing mornings.

I finished up my breakfast, and pulled on my knee-high boots. I was wearing black skinny jeans, and a lime green tank top with a hoodie. At least the school didn't have a uniform.

Pros: 1. Cons: 37.

Just as my mind was about to fly into the wet, cold clouds, my little sister Ella came bouncing down the stairs, wearing a light blue tank top, white skinny jeans and converse. Her dark brown hair fell down her back in waves. She looked like my mom with a more Hispanic look to her and the same chocolate brown eyes as me, but that was where all similarities ended. I had brownish-blondish hair that was a tiny bit longer then hers despite how often I cut my hair.

I was 16 and in my sophomore year of high school, while Ella was 15 and a freshman in high school.

"Max! Hurry up or you're going to make us both late for school and I kind of want to make some new friends so my stay here won't be so depressing." Ella said with an impatient look.

"If you give me chocolate, I might reconsider." I said, knowing it would drive her over a cliff. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

We were walking to school since it was relatively close to my house.

After listening to Ella talk about some pretty random stuff – like how she was dreaming about Ryan Seacrest chasing her on a 'deadly' unicorn – we finally reached our new school. And I thought my old school was prison like.

But I wasn't known as fearless for nothing, so I took a deep breath and walked inside.

~LINE BREAK~

"Max, would you please just stop and ask for directions? We've missed homeroom and half of first period." Ella said, obviously annoyed that I refused to stop and ask for help.

"Don't worry, we're almost there. Besides, it's not my fault this school is so - …"

I got knocked down to the floor – which hurt like heck, just so you know – mid-sentence.

"Hey! Would you watch where you're going?" Ella asked. But I was OK and told her just that.

"Sorry. I didn't see you coming. If I'm late for class one more time, I'm gonna get suspended. And I can't get suspended again." said the person who knocked me down. He was a tall guy; I'm talking over 6 feet tall with strawberry blonde hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes.

"Tough luck kid, but running now isn't going to make you any less late, just so you know." I said. OK, so I wasn't the nicest kid on the block, and my social skills were non-existent. I still managed to stay out of charm school so I wasn't so concerned.

"The name's Griffiths. James Griffiths. I prefer King of the World, but you can call me Iggy," the Iggy kid said.

Ella giggled in that 'you're- so-hot-and-I-have-an-obvious-crush-on- you- but- I'll- try- not- to- make- it- obvious- cause- my- sister- is- standing- right- here' way of hers and said "I'm Ella and this is my sister Max. We're new and we got lost on our way to the office. Do you think you could help us find it, it could give you an excuse for being late?"

I had to admit, the girl was persuasive with her eyelash batting and the hair twirling and whatnot.

"Um – uh - sure, of course I can, why not?" If the kid seemed over-confident before, he was stuttering like a fool now.

"Thanks. So, which grade are you in?" Ella asked, since I'm not really a social person. One of the many perks of having Ella as my beloved sister.

"I'm a sophomore, although I'm quite a genius. What about you, Ella?" Iggy said, scratching the back of his neck. Huh. It was as though I didn't exist.

"Oh, I'm a freshman." Ella said.

"That's too bad," Iggy said, looking disappointed.

"Why?" asked Ella.

"I… uh… wouldn't get to see you as much." Iggy said, looking flustered.

Well isn't that adorable. Now, to ruin the moment…

"I'm a sophomore, in case…" I didn't bother finishing. Ella and Iggy were exchanging numbers. Not that I was, like, _jealous_ or anything, but this was getting just plain rude.

I was jolted out of my thoughts by the bell that signaled the end of first period.

"C'mon Ells, let's get you to the office." Iggy said, clearly he and Ella had both forgotten all about me. Those traitors. Oh well, I'd just corner the first poor sucker that came out of the door in front of me.

I was starting to think that it was 'jolt Max out of her thoughts by pushing her to the ground Day' because – once again – I found myself pushed butt first to the floor, and an extremely tall stranger standing above me. At least this time the person that pushed me down tried to help me up. The key word here being 'tried' and because me being my amazing self with an awesome personality despite my mom's efforts of getting me into charm school – and now I'm getting off topic - refused the help and got myself up.

"Sorry. You OK?" asked the stranger.

Looks like somebody's a big talker.

Do you remember King Iggy? Well this guy was the polar opposite. They were both over 6 feet, but that's were all similarities ended. This guy had longish black hair, olive colored skin and onyx colored eyes so deep they could pull you in for miles. Not that I was looking too deeply or anything. He was also wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans with black converse (jeez, what is it that makes converse so appealing to teenagers?) whereas King Iggy was wearing a light blue t-shirt, black jeans and – you guessed it – converse.

"Um…Yeah." I said.

"I'm Fang in case you were wondering" said Fang.

"Fang? That's an interesting name. I'm Max in case _you _were wondering." I said.

"Max? That's an interesting name." He retorted.

I've got to admit that he got me there.

"It's short for Maximum." I told him. I don't really know why though.

"Listen, Fang, if you wouldn't really mind, I'm new and I'm _hopelessly _lost. I was wondering if you could help me find the 'BIG MAN'S' office?" I said. I was trying to redo Ella's eyelash batting and hair twirling routine, but I got my finger stuck in my hair.

"Do you have something stuck in your eye Max? And I would be happy to get out of Calculus – I mean show you to the principal's office." Fang said.

"I'm really feeling the love Fangpire." I said.

"Wow. I have heard a lot of lame nicknames in my lifetime. That one was by far the lamest. Just call me Fang." he said.

Just as I was about to answer, I heard someone say "OMG. Am I the only person that sees Fang having a real two person _conversation_ with someone other than his best friends?"

"You know what Fangy; this looks like the beginning of a very beautiful friendship." I said.

"Again, just call me Fang. And OK, sure, we could be friends. Now let's get you to the office"

"Hey, that's exactly what the other guy said to my sister before they ditched me," I said.

"What 'other' guy, which sister, and who ditched who?" said Fang, who was obviously confused.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you another time." I said.

Oh. Did I forget to mention that Fang was incredibly hot?

Well, you didn't hear it from me.

**A/N: I am uploading a new story but since my internet is incredibly unstable, updates will most certainly be random and not very often. Also, I put USA as my country but I am currently somewhere in Africa so the time will also be completely random.**

**Question: **

**Who in the flock do you think I should kidnap – I mean… um… borrow?**


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